LB4I 
lb 



Liberal Education 



The Utility of a Liberal Education in 
Every-day Life. 



A Paper read at Berkeley, CaL, Feb. 8, 1882, 
by A. McF. Davis. 



p. 

Author. 

(Per 

23Mr>04 












The Utility of a Liberal Education in 

EVERY-DAY LlFE. 



In the "Antiquary " — one of the Waverly Novels — the following 
bit of dialogue occurs: 

" I am glad to see you sir — I am very glad to see you. My poor 
gentleman is, I am afraid, very unwell; and O, Mr. Oldbuck, he'll 
see neither doctor, nor minister, nor writer ! And think what it would 
be, if, as poor Mr. Hadoway used to say, a man was to die without 
advice of the three learned faculties." 

" Greatly better than with them," grumbled the cynical Antiquary. 
" I tell you, Mrs. Hadoway, the clergy live by our sins, the medical 
faculty by our diseases, and the law gentry by our misfortunes." 

The time of the story was the latter part of the eighteenth 
century. The scene, the southeastern portion of Scotland. 

If we step back four hundred years and join the merry band of 
pilgrims on their way to Canterbury, and listen as Chaucer intro- 
duces them to us, we shall find even there, representatives of the 
"three learned faculties." 

" With us there was a doctour of phisike, 
In all this world ne was ther non him like 
To speke of phisike, and of surgerie: 
For he was grounded in astronomie." 



"A good man ther was of religioun, 
That was a poure persone of a toun: 
But rich he was of holy thought and werk. 



"A sergeant of the lawe ware and wise, 
That often hadde yben at the paruis, 
Ther was also, ful riche of excellence." 



If we select an intermediate period and examine the regius pro- 
fessorships of Henry VIII at Oxford, we find that they were Divin- 
ity, Civil Law, Medicine, Hebrew and Greek. 



[4] 

The " three learned faculties " during all this time furnished the 
natural destination of that portion of the educated youth of England, 
who sought to gratify their ambition, by putting their education in 
use. Centuries of custom had ripened into prejudice, and other 
avenues of usefulness were practically closed to them, if they would 
become famous. The internal development of the kingdom was 
sluggish — manufactures were dormant. In the planning and con- 
struction of the magnificent cathedrals and churches scattered over 
the land in such profusion, we see the only evidence of what might 
have furnished a field of work for the University graduates, if their 
tastes and inclinations had led them to enter it. Here one would 
suppose ambition could have been gratified, and here if any where 
it would seem that the taste of cultivated intellects might have been 
put to good use, and the learning acquired during years of study 
made available. That architecture did not assert for itself a claim 
to be considered a fourth "learned faculty " during this period is 
not only true, but it seems also to be true that there was no tempta- 
tion either in the emoluments or the fame to be gained from this 
avocation, for those to enter it who were spurred by ambition. The 
names of the earlier architects are shrouded in mystery. Tradition 
invokes the aid of demons to account for some of the most wonder- 
ful of their works. No satisfactory account is given of the method 
by which the scientific knowledge essential for their purposes was 
transmitted from one to another. 

Fergusson says, " In the time of which we are speaking (the thir- 
teenth century) which was the great age of Gothic Art, there is no in- 
stance of a mason of any grade being called upon to furnish the 
design as well as to execute the work." 

In "The Renaissance of Art in France," Mrs. Mark Pattison 
says : " Throughout the earlier period, which, beginning after the 
middle of the fifteenth century, closed with the death of Francois I, 
we find that though many buildings of that epoch show marks of 
strongly individual treatment, nothing is to be learned concerning 
the lives, nor can we, except in rare instances, even identify the 
names of those who built them." 

We seldom hear of any English builders, except Inigo Jones and 
Sir Christopher Wren. When we read the list of buildings which 
these two men were able personally to supervise, and take into con- 
sideration the limited resources of the kingdom, we can understand 
that the work to be done in this field required but a limited number 
of men. The amount per diem paid Inigo Jones, as architect and 



[5 ] 

supervisor of the Whitehall banquetting house, was the paltry sum of 
8s. 4d., and he received forty-six pounds a year for house rent, clerks 
and incidental expenses. Sir Christopher Wren's salary, while em- 
ployed on St. Paul's, was only two hundred pounds a year. Perhaps 
this will explain why architecture failed to work its way into what 
popular esteem denominates "the learned faculties." 

Even Literature, although making demands of the most exacting 
character upon the cultivation of its followers, had not at the begin- 
ning of this century fairly conquered for itself a place among the 
professions. The renown of Dryden and Pope, of Fielding and 
Smollett, of Addison and Steele, of Johnson and Goldsmith, as pro- 
fessional writers, has only in recent days grown to such an extent 
as to exert an influence upon the rising generation in the choice of 
their pursuits. 

The reading and purchasing public had not yet come ; and the 
possibility of deliberately devoting one's life to writing for publica- 
tion, was limited to those of great faith, great recklessness, or great 
means. 

When the novelist puts into the mouth of Mrs. Hadoway the 
trite phrase "the three learned faculties," he brings distinctly before 
our eyes the limitations of the times. It is as if he had said — " these 
and these only were at this date the avenues which University grad- 
uates could pursue to success and distinction." Have we advanced 
much beyond this point to-day ? Would it not be with an apologetic 
deference to the progress of the times, that many would admit that 
opportunities for graduates exist outside the "three learned facul- 
ties ?" Enlarge the number by admitting Literature and Science — 
(which, as our schools are classified, means Engineering and Chem- 
istry) — and how many are there who would concede that an ad- 
vanced education could be used in other walks of life ? 

These limitations, the result of inherited prejudices, will not, I 
feel sure, control the educated young men and women of this coun- 
try in the near future. Barriers of restraint are borne down by the 
liberality of the times, and inherited prejudices disappear like the 
dew before the morning sun. 

Gratitude to the long list of learned jurists who have established 
in our minds a reverence for the common law of England; to her 
distinguished physicians, who have contributed so much to medical 
jurisprudence; to her clergy, for the liberal philanthropy of to-day 
which is the logical outgrowth of their teachings, will not cease 
among the English speaking portion of the world until history shall 



[6] 

be obliterated; but whatever the influence of the bar upon the rights 
of men, of the medical faculty upon the health of the race, or of the 
clergy upon their morals, we cannot ignore the fact that in the de- 
velopment of her internal resources, England has relied upon her 
non-professional men. 

A few years since 'Samuel Smiles published a work entitled 
" Lives of the Engineers." In his preface he says: " The object 
of the following volumes is to give an account of some of the prin- 
cipal men by whom the material development of England has been 
promoted." * * * * " In one case the object of interest is a 
London goldsmith, like Myddelton ; in another, he is a retired sea 
captain, like Perry; a wheelwright, like Brindley; an attorney's 
clerk, like Smeaton; a millwright, like Rennie; a working mason, 
like Telford; or an engine brakeman, like Stephenson." 

His pages bring before our eyes as we read, the condition of Eng- 
land before and after the work of these men had been done, and we 
cannot rise from the perusal of the book without being impressed 
that their influence upon the prosperity of England and the welfare 
of her people, was far greater than that of the statesmen, the warriors 
and the jurists of the time, whose lives are generally accepted as the 
history of the country. 

When the Duke of Bridgewater sent for James Brindley and con- 
sulted him with reference to the construction of an artificial water- 
way from his coal mines to Manchester, that city was a place of 
about twenty thousand inhabitants. The roads which penetrated 
the surrounding country were so bad that it was often difficult to 
supply the place with provisions. Not a single factory chimney 
pierced the air, and not a pound of coal was required for other than 
domestic uses. Yet so difficult were the means of communication 
between the city and the mines, but a few miles distant, that there 
was frequently a scarcity of coal for domestic purposes. Liverpool, 
then just springing into importance as a seaport, was at times prac- 
tically inaccessible. It was to remedy these difficulties that Brind- 
ley, a Derbyshire wheelwright, whose wonderful mechanical skill had 
already created for him a local reputation, was called upon to con- 
struct a canal for purposes of traffic, the first of its kind in England. 
With characteristic boldness he devised a scheme for dispensing with 
a troublesome system of lockage, which was- probably the f^AJt^of 
the great success of the canal, but which was sneered at as impracti- 
cable by those who were supposed to know about it. The canal 
was, however, constructed as designed, and was immediately sue- 



[ 7] 

ceeded by another connecting Manchester with tidewater. The 
effect of these works upon the prosperity of the surrounding country 
was like magic. So keenly was it appreciated that an extensive 
system of artificial water communication was at once constructed 
through the northwestern counties of England, thus affecting the 
welfare of an immense population and exerting a powerful influence 
upon the future of England itself. 

All this was done at the instigation of the Duke of Bridgewater, 
a man whose early education had been totally neglected. The agent 
whom he employed was James Brindley, who had received no assist- 
ance from schools in gaining what little learning he had acquired; 
who could barely write his name and who was incapable of spelling 
accurately words of a single syllable. 

The development of the steam engine by James Watt, a mathe- 
matical instrument maker, followed soon after, and added to the 
rapidly increasing momentum of prosperity which the whole region 
had acquired. It made possible the perfection of the system of in- 
ternal communication by means of railways, of which the first of any 
importance, the Liverpool and Manchester, was built by George 
Stephenson, whose early days were spent in a collier}-, near Newcastle. 
With no other model than the suggestions furnished him by the in- 
adequate tramways in use at the collieries, with their feeble locomo- 
tive and stationary engines, Stephenson boldly grappled the prob- 
lem, infused a portion of his faith into the capitalists who furnished 
the money for the scheme, overcame the hostility, the prejudice and 
the corruption of Parliament: planned and executed a railway of 
great merit in the face of grave obstacles; built a locomotive which 
accomplished thirty miles an hour in one of the trial trips, and 
delivered to his patrons a model railroad capable of fulfilling all that 
was demanded of it. 

To this brakeman — as Smiles terms him — more than to anv 
other one man belongs the honor of devising the system of internal 
communication which has brought us within seven days of New 
York; which has made the whole civilized world homogeneous; 
which has altered the habits of thought and modes of life of the 
present generation, and whose effects upon the social problems of the 
world he would be bold indeed who should claim that he could 
pronounce. 

The temptation to dwell upon this topic; to enlarge upon the 
different conditions of the England of to-day and of the middle of 
the last centurv, before the first sod had been turned in the con- 



[8] 

struction of the Bridgewater Canal; to contrast the frequent, luxuri- 
ous and rapid means of intercourse between the scattered cities of 
the land with the tedious, difficult and dangerous methods of travel 
before these improvements; to linger in pointing out how the condi- 
tion of the farmers was improved by thus bringing the market to 
their doors; how greatly increased numbers found work in the col- 
lieries in consequence of the increased demands for coal; how manu- 
factories sprang up, and how the whole country became prosperous, 
is very great. But these are facts so familiar, that the only occasion 
for even alluding to them is for the purpose of asserting their direct 
connection with the lives of these illiterate men, and of pointing 
whatever moral there is to the proposition, that in all this, the Uni- 
versity graduates of the day, as a class, had no hand. 

To many this circumstance seems significant, and the inference 
is drawn that there is a self-reliance, buoyancy and ruggedness to 
the intellect of the self-made man, which peculiarly fits him to 
grapple with these problems of real life. But can we believe that 
the giant intellect of Brindley would have been emasculated by aid 
in his younger days ? — that Stephenson, groping darkly after learning 
in his mature years, would have accomplished less if his mind had 
been prepared by others, instead of being disciplined by poverty and 
neglect ? 

Certainly, so far as Stephenson was concerned, we know that he 
was painfully conscious of the impediment which the lack of educa- 
tion proved to his progress in life, and to the extent of his ability he 
sought to overcome the same in the career of his son Robert, by 
furnishing him with an education at the Edinburgh University. 

The methods employed by the latter in after life, in the con- 
struction of the Brittania Tubular Bridge, were so thoroughly scien-, 
tific — they were so distinctly in accord with what we expect from an 
educated mind — there was so little left to chance, and so much of 
the debateable ground was explored in advance, that they furnish an 
admirable illustration of the ways of modern science, and refute the 
idea that culture crushes ingenuity and perseverance. 

The problem laid before Robert Stephenson was this : The 
island of Anglesey is separated from Wales by a navigable strait, 
through which each day tides violently race, rising and falling to the 
height of from twenty to twenty-five feet. A railway bridge was to 
be constructed here, high enough above the water to enable vessels 
to pass beneath, and which should not interfere with navigation 
while being erected. The proposition to use a suspension bridge 



[9] 

was not approved. A cast-iron arch had been suggested, but if 
there had been no other objection, the interference of the centreing 
with the navigation of the straits was necessarily fatal to its adoption. 
The novel idea of an iron tube was suggested, and a series of experi- 
ments were begun to determine the breaking weight of such a struc- 
ture, the proper distribution of materials to resist the strains of com- 
pression on top, and the tensile strains on the bottom, and what 
would be the best section — whether circular, elliptical or rectangular. 
Tubes of various shapes were subjected to breaking strains, and the 
results of the experiments were accepted, even where they dispelled 
the theories of the experimenters. 

Finally a miniature tube was constructed, similar in proportion, 
section, and distribution of material, to the one which the results of 
the experiments had led them to adopt. When it was seen that this 
fully withstood the tests to which it was submitted, it was determined 
to proceed with the work. A suitable spot was selected on the 
Caernarvon shore, where the tubes which were to span the water were 
constructed. When completed they were floated on pontoons to 
the recesses in the piers prepared for them, and were raised by 
hydraulic power to the proper height. Masonry was carried up be- 
neath them as they were raised, and the task was accomplished of 
making a railway bridge under the peculiar restraints imposed. 

At every step during all these proceedings records were kept of 
each experiment, and of the effect of the wind and weather upon 
the structure — thus adding a vast amount of valuable information to 
the scientific records of the age. 

All this is essentially different from the expensive experiments in 
practice of Edwards, the stone mason, known as the bridge builder, 
who in working out the problem of spanning the river Taff, in 
Wales, in the middle of the last century, saw two of his bridges 
totally destroyed, before he conquered all the difficulties in his way 
and succeeded in building the bridge which still stands as a monu- 
ment to his genius and perseverance. It is radically different from 
the sublime faith in himself, with which Brindley met the sneers of 
those who scoffed at his projects; but not every man who believes in 
himself can hope for the success of a Brindley, nor would his suc- 
cess, or that of Edwards, have been less real if it had been less ex- 
perimental — if, instead of being based upon practice, it had been 
founded on instruction. 

While poverty and necessity may and do stimulate efforts upon 
the part of some, that would not otherwise be put forth, there is no 



[ *o] 

reason to believe that such men as Brindley and Stephenson and 
Smeaton and Watts would have done less for their race if the work 
had been made easier for them by a thorough education in their 
youth. 

That the work of mechanical invention, of applying scientific 
discoveries to manufacturing processes, and of improving the methods 
of transportation, were left almost exclusively to persons of but little 
culture, until within a comparatively recent period, must be attributed 
to the inherited prejudices which turned the attention of graduates 
away from this work. The course of study of any university is 
framed to meet the supposed wants of its patrons. This fact must 
have operated to deter those whose tastes had led them to adopt a 
life connected with mechanics or engineering from seeking a col- 
legiate education. The time has, however, come for us to proclaim 
our complete emancipation from such prejudices, and to realize that 
an advanced education is not alone useful in the so-called pro- 
fessions, but its function is everywhere in life. 

With the growth of manufactures, the development of inland 
traffic and the expansion of commerce, have come a host of new 
industries where cultivated brains are required. Separated from 
contact with many of these movements, by their natural tendency 
to drift elsewhere in life, college graduates have permitted prizes 
lawfully belonging to them to be grasped by those of a lower grade 
of cultivation, until, precisely as was the case with the development 
of the internal resources of England, work, the proper performance 
of which would tax the most cultivated intellect, has of necessity 
fallen into the hands of men who have had only the advantage of a 
limited education. 

It is the province of the graduate of to-day to invade these new 
paths of life opened up for cultivated men; to assert his right for a 
hearing in the business and manufacturing world, and to secure such 
of these prizes as naturally gravitate to his hands. 

The entire railway system of the United States has been con- 
structed during the past fifty years. The demands upon the country 
during the earlier part of this period, for men competent to locate 
and build these roads, taxed our proverbial elasticity to its utmost. 
By means of army officers, surveyors, and men who picked up their 
knowledge in the field, the first roads were built. Since then the 
construction of new roads has been constant, until now we have in 
operation upwards of 95,000 miles of railways, the cost of which is 
estimated at over $5,000,000,000. 



[ » ] 

In the organization of the permanent staffs of these roads as 
they were completed, the men who had been employed in the field 
naturally sought for positions. Engineers, transit men, rodmen and 
levellers became general superintendents, general freight agents, gen- 
eral passenger agents. What were the duties which they were called 
upon to perform? 

The superintendent's office demands from its incumbent not only 
that he shall have a thorough knowledge of engineering, including 
field work, the strength of materials, and the construction of masonry 
and truss-work bridges, but he is called upon to determine whether 
this or that patent is an improvement worthy of adoption; his ingen- 
uity is taxed to determine whether this or that scheme for operating 
railways will increase the safety of the traffic over his road; he is 
necessarily consulted as to whether this or that extension of the road 
will enlarge the business, improve the connections or facilitate the 
operation of the road; whether it is advisable to enter into contracts 
of various natures, and if so, with what safeguards and with what 
limitations. In short, his avocations cover so much ground that for 
their proper fulfillment he must not only be a first-class field engineer 
but somewhat of a patent expert and a tolerably good lawyer. 

"W nat is the nature of the labors which have drifted into the 
general freight office, in the subdivision of the work which has gen- 
erally been adopted? Here we find that the classification tables are 
prepared. A knowledge of the character, the value, the size, the 
shape, the specific gravity and the liability to damage of every article 
likely to be transported over the road is required for the proper 
preparation of these tables. In preparing the tariff, in addition to 
the foregoing, a knowledge is required of the cost of handling and 
of hauling the various articles of freight, as well as all the peculiar 
faclilities of the terminal stations between which the transportation 
is to be effected. In the settlement of claims for damage a com- 
plete knowledge of the law of common carriers is required, and a 
familiarity with the common chemistry of every day life. To the 
general freight agent falls the preparation of contracts with connect- 
ing roads and with patrons, demanding a knowledge of the use of 
language and the methods of courts in construing it. The adjust- 
ment and apportionment of traffic and of rates with connecting lines, 
often calls for diplomatic and administrative ability of a high order. 
The duties of this office are such that he who fills it will find occa- 
sions which tax his stores of knowledge to the utmost. 

In a similar way the other staff officers of a well organized road 



furnish positions which demand of those who fill them cultivation of 
a high order. And yet an examination of the various railway offices 
in the country will disclose very few college graduates, either in im- 
portant positions or in subordinate places in the line of promotion. 

The necessity of insurance, for the protection of the prudent, has 
become a business axiom. The amount of capital employed in the 
three great branches of insurance — Fire, Marine and Life — has 
steadily increased, until in this country alone the assets of the various 
insurance companies amount to nearly, if not quite, seven hundred 
millions of dollars, and the number of men supported by the busi- 
ness would make a small army. The routine work of the officers 
will not tax the intelligence of persons of ordinary school education, 
but to understand the science of the several branches of insurance; 
to appreciate the laws of probability upon which the risks are based, 
and to bring into intelligent use the fund of knowledge necessary for 
the adjustment of losses, calls for more than ordinary talents and 
cultivation. 

In placing a fire insurance upon a building and its contents, the 
materials of which the building is constructed, its exposure by situa- 
tion or use, the character of its tenants, the value of the property 
and its relation to the amount of insurance, the separate amount 
that may be placed upon any one article of the contents, the char- 
acter of each, their position with reference to the possibility of 
their being saved, and the probable water supply at command in 
case of fire, not only constitute the ordinary elements which control 
the rate of the risk, but in the case of manufacturing establishments, 
delicate questions of liability to fire from the speed of machinery, 
from the operation of chemical agents, peculiar exposures to the 
carelessness of employes, and a multitude of other causes which 
will suggest themselves to those familiar with the subject, greatly 
complicate the problem. Each application will vary in some of its 
details from every other, and large risks are entitled to be adjudged 
upon their respective merits. It then becomes a contest between 
insurer and insured, in which the latter is compelled to know only 
the details of his own affairs to determine the nature of the risk, 
while the insurance agent, in order to act upon the same basis, is 
obliged to have the same familiarity with the affairs of all his patrons. 
It needs but to state the proposition, to show that the performance 
of such duties involves the application of all the knowledge likely to 
be at the command of the most cultivated man. In practice, it is 



[ *3 ] 

true that underwriters have relieved themselves from much of this 
labor and responsibility by the arbitrary classification of risks, but 
with a clearer appreciation of insurance, the disposition to study 
separate risks, and to treat each intelligently upon its own merits, 
increases from day to day. 

Quite recently a reward was offered by the Northwestern Asso- 
ciation of Underwriters for a prize essay upon "Flour Mill Hazards." 
The paper to which the prize was awarded bore upon its face the 
signs of diligent investigation. The writer accumulated a mass of 
facts concerning the methods of manufacture, the application of the 
power, the speeds of machinery, the character of the work done by 
separate machines, the relative danger from heated bearings in- 
volved in this, and the various other questions suggested by the sub- 
ject, much of which he embodied in the paper which he presented. 

The statistics of these hazards showed him that more fires had 
occurred in flouring mills worked by water power than in those 
which used steam power, and upon this fact he hangs the following 
theory of the cause of the "explosion" of the "Washburn A" mill 
at Minneapolis : 

" The theory proposed is that the friction on the water of two 
48-inch turbine wheels, under a 40-foot head, discharging 77,600 
gallons per minute, and furnishing 600 effective horse-power in the 
race, under ' Mill A's ' 30-foot basement, may have produced either 
hydrogen or fire-damp, in such quantities as to be forced up into the 
mill, and then changed to hydrogen gas. In short, that hydrogen 
was produced, and being naturally over fourteen times lighter than 
common air, passed up through the mill and became properly car- 
buretted by combining with the elements incident to flour milling, 
and vvas the chief destructive element in that explosion." 

Thus we learn from the Northwestern Underwriters in what 
danger we have stood while we admired the beautiful water-falls 
which precipitate themselves over the cliffs in the Yosemite Valley. 
Had the air but been " properly carburetted," perhaps we might have 
had an explosion even there. 

But my object in alluding to this paper was not for the purpose 
of criticism. The scope of the paper and the character of the dis- 
cussion which the writer attempts to maintain, illustrate the field of 
work for the educated man in fire insurance. 

Marine risks demand a special knowledge of their own. They 
are determined by the character of the vessel, the nature of the 
cargo, and the contemplated voyage. The probability of storms, the 



[ *4] 

formation of the coast, the seasons of the year to be encountered, 
and other considerations of the same character, involving a knowl- 
edge of physical and descriptive geography, and the laws which 
govern currents of air and water enter into into each of them. 

The fact that the Marine Board of Underwriters of New York 
published a pamphlet, by Lieutenant Maury, on " Lane passages 
for Steamers in the Atlantic," in 1855, a pamphlet which was after- 
wards republished by the Government, will illustrate the function of 
the educated man in this line of insurance. 

In the adjustment of both fire and marine losses, the adjuster 
'comes in contact with specialists with whom he has to settle losses 
upon articles ranging through every degree of usefulness; about the 
value of which the sources of information vary according to their 
nature, and concerning the extent of the damage to which by fire 
or water, in cases of partial damage, the most subtle and delicate 
questions constantly arise. 

The science of life insurance is one of more modern origin. The 
collection and interpretation of the tables of mortuary statistics, the 
calculation of the probability of life for different individuals, the 
solution of the delicate laws of hereditary tendency upon the con- 
stitution — these and other interesting questions bearing upon the 
nature of these risks, still occupy the time and compel the study of 
those engaged in the business. 

It is needless to dwell at length upon the obvious advantages to 
a manufacturer of a liberal education. At every* step in his progress 
he is called upon to determine questions involving a knowledge of 
the laws of Physical Science, with which he cannot expect his sub- 
ordinates to be familiar. The very question of his profits will de- 
pend upon small economies which may in turn rest upon a knowl- 
edge of these laws. 

Each gallon of water evaporated in a boiler will probably bear in 
solution from twenty to forty grains of mineral matter, and if the 
water is very hard it may reach as much as two hundred grains to 
the gallon. The greater part of the salts thus borne in solution by feed 
water, are thrown down by the increase of the temperature of the 
water. The precipitation which thus takes place within the boiler 
during the process of making steam, is aggravated by the necessity 
of reinforcing the supply of water in order to make good that portion 
which is driven off by evaporation. Thus it follows, that unless 
condensed water be used, a deposit of mineral matter will soon take 
place within the boiler. Now, it has been estimated by observers 



[i5] 

that one-sixteenth of an inch of such a deposit, baked upon the shell 
of the boiler in the form technically termed scale, will increase the 
consumption of fuel twenty per cent., and this ratio of increase of 
fuel consumption, itself increases with great rapidity as the scale 
thickens. The knowledge of this important fact, and its bearings 
upon the economy of firing, may make the difference between the 
possibility of conducting a profitable and a losing business, where 
fuel forms an important element of expense; and its appreciation in 
the past, when such matters were not well understood, was an item 
of knowledge of actual commercial value. 

How to deal with these salts, and how best to remove them, has • 
practically been settled by the compound engine, wherever water 
can be procured in supply sufficient to use a condenser; but the 
scale problem still occupies a great deal of attention where high 
pressure engines are in use, and we must rely upon the inventors of 
the future to discover some other means of condensing, applicable 
where the limitations of space and insufficient supply of water pre- 
clude the use of those now constructed. 

To insure the complete combustion of fuel we have but to adjust 
the supply of oxygen to the burning fuel, so that each particle of 
carbon may be consumed before it has passed beyond the effects of 
the flames. In practice, artificial and natural drafts are used, and in 
each case the amount of air passed through the burning mass is par- 
tially under the control of the fireman; but the dense clouds of 
smoke that hang over our manufacturing cities where bituminous 
coal is used, bear testimony to the unscientific waste of fuel which 
is constantly going on, and point out to the student a field in which 
he may aid the manufacturer in his economies, improve the health 
of those now compelled to breathe the polluted atmosphere, and 
save from further defacement the works of art and public buildings 
which are now being ruined by the stains of soot. 

It is but a few years since the Government chained to the docks 
in New York two steamers, and made certain experiments to de- 
termine the relative value of two engines. The main point involved 
was, whether a high or a low pressure of steam was most economical. 
Experience has shown that a high pressure is better, and the appli- 
cation of this theory to marine engines in the form of the compound 
engine has revolutionized the marine carrying trade of the world, and 
bids fair to drive sailing vessels from the face of the ocean. The 
speculative brains of inventors foresee in the engine of the future a 
possibility of increasing the utility of steam by increasing the boiler 



[ *6] 

pressures of every day use, to figures that now seem impracticable. 
But whatever the character 'of the engine which the manufacturer 
has in use, he cannot afford to assume that it is working to its best 
advantage. By means of the "indicator" he transfers its motions to 
paper. The engine itself assists in placing before his eyes a perfect 
record of its movements and condition. The horizontal lines of the 
diagram measure the length of the stroke; the vertical lines are de- 
grees of pressure. The point of the stroke at which steam is cut off 
is apparent, and the curve which connects this point with the atmos- 
pheric line represents the dying force of the expansion of the steam. 
A leakage of a valve, any great irregularity in the application of the 
power, any defect in the machine itself, is permanently recorded in 
the card, and, if interpreted by intelligent study, can be remedied. 
The area enclosed within the outlines gives a key to the amount 
of power in use, and the careful study of a series of diagrams will 
furnish information to any student who possesses the requisite 
knowledge and patience to pursue the subject. 

No man can glance at the official gazette of the Patent Office, 
which recites the claims of the two hundred and fifty-six thousand 
patents issued by our Government, without realizing that the manu- 
factures of the world are in their infancy. With every stride that 
scientific investigators make in the development of our knowledge of 
the laws of nature, manufacturers and business men press on their 
heels and seize upon their discoveries for practical use. Scarcely 
was the scientific world familiar with the Frauenhofer lines before 
the little instrument which unveiled to our view the elements of the 
distant stars, was pressed into service to unlock the secrets of the 
fiery furnace, and made to tell when the blast should be cut off in 
the Bessemer steel process. See to what an extent the discovery 
that it is practicable to pack and hermetically seal meats and fruits, 
so that they can be indefinitely preserved, has been utilized by the 
canneries on our coast. This industry alone may teach us to what 
use we can put the garden regions of the Sierra slopes, first popu- 
lated and then deserted by our placer miners. Taught by Seth 
Green how to transport and propagate successfully the eggs of fishes, 
the several States are peopling the streams of the continent, and even 
the ocean itself, with aquatic life, repairing the damage of indiscrimi- 
nate waste, and adding to the food resources of our population. 

What an advantage to an artist to understand and be able to 
apply the mathematical reasons for the laws of perspective; to be 
familiar with history and literature; to have studied the anatomy of 



[ i7] 

the human frame, and of such animals as he is likely to draw. A 
large and perhaps the most interesting and instructive field for a 
painter, is the representation of historical events, or the illustration 
of familiar scenes from the works of ancient writers. To accomplish 
work of this sort, how much more is requisite than mere technical 
skill ! If the artist would avoid anachronisms and kindred errors, 
he must be familiar with localities — with architecture — with the 
manners and customs of the people and the period of history with 
which he deals — with styles of dress and forms of furniture. In 
short, he must be a cultivated man, or he must cultivate himself for 
each piece of work that he undertakes. 

To the agriculturist, a knowledge of the chemistry of the soil and 
of the distribution and habits of plants is of essential service, and 
this is especially true in a new country. The dignified treatment of 
this subject has opened up a new field here for educated men, which 
will revolutionize methods of agriculture. 

The marvellous progress of electrical discoveries within the past 
few years; the wonderful instruments by means of which the utility 
of Telegraphic wires have been so much increased; the Telephone, 
the Electric Light, and the Electric Motor, have created a new de- 
partment of science, which is as yet but feebly explored, and which 
must command the attention of many thinkers of the coming 
generation. 

The number of newspapers published in the United States in 
1S10 was only 359. It is stated that there are now published in the 
entire world 34,274 newspapers and periodicals. The vast oppor- 
tunities which our periodical literature open up for the employment 
of an education must prove attractive in the future. 

The great fields of labor for educated men afforded by engineer- 
ing and chemistry, have asserted themselves too strongly in modern 
times to require illustration, nor is there need to dwell upon the 
opening afforded by commercial pursuits, except to quote the words 
of Edward Everett : " I deem it not«too much to say of commerce, 
in its largest comprehension, that it has done as much in all time and 
is now doing as much to promote the general cause of civilization 
as any other of the great pursuits." My attempt has been rather to 
point out paths which are obscure than those that are obvious. 

It rests with the rising generation to say whether the biographer 
who in the next century shall write the lives of those who have con- 
tributed most to the material prosperity of this country, shall be 
obliged to exclude those who have received a liberal education; to 



L is ] 

say whether they will form a part of the great army doing such useful 
service for the insurance and railway companies; to say whether they 
will aid the manufacturers and mechanical engineers in their work. 
With every day's experience the opportunities for cultivated intelli- 
gence increase. A distinguished scientific gentleman recently ob- 
served that the wonder of the future would be — not that we of the 
Nineteenth Century had contributed so much to the scientific knowl- 
edge of the world, but that being so close to so much more we had 
failed to discover it. The more that we learn the more certain we 
feel that there is more to learn. From our central position our ex- 
plorers of knowledge radiate in every direction. Each step that they 
take reveals to them the fact that the territory to be searched be- 
tween the explorers increases as they move, and that the illimitable 
region of the unknown remains beyond. Education demands the 
help of all her allies in this search. There is no limitation ol age, 
sex, direction or opportunity. 

The " intelligent interest and persistence " of a Cincinnati girl, 
who pursues her experiments in search of the secrets of the 
Limoges faience to an accomplished success, adds a new industry 
to the permanent resources of our country. 

An invalid woman penetrates the wilds of Japan, where no 
white man ever set foot, and describes for the first time a race of 
native Japanese. 

A patient scientific investigator watches for years the ways of 
the insignificant earthworms upon the lawn in front of his house, 
and teaches the world their wonderful function in altering the face 
of the earth. 

The monopoly of the " three learned faculties " is doomed. The 
educated youth of to-day can repeat with a freedom of interpreta- 
tion never before enjoyed, Pistol's oft quoted speech : 

" The world's mine oyster, 
Which I with sword will open." 



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